Coal And Petroleum Notes

Things that satisfy our needs are known as resources. Resources are of two types: Natural resources and Artificial resources or man-made resources.

Natural resources are those resources that are god gifted or we can say they are already present in our nature like the sunlight, air, soil, and water.

Anything and everything that is available on eath naturally is a natural resource.

Artificial resources are those resources that are man-made and are made by using the resources that are already present in nature i.e Natural resources. 

Machines, vehicles, roads are all artificial resources. Artificial resources are also known as man-made resources.

Natural resources

Two types:-

1.Exhaustible - Forest, coal, petroleum

2.Non-Exhaustible - Wind, air, sunlight

COAL (An Example of Fossil Fuel)

• Hard as stone, black in color.
• Used as fuel in railway engines, for cooking food, and in various industries.
• Formed under high pressure and temperature from dead plants or remains of vegetations.
• The slow process of conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonization.
• Coal when heated mainly gives CO2.

Types or ranks of coal

1. Anthracite - Highest rank or the purest form of coal. Often referred to as hard coal. Brittle, black, and lustrous in nature having the highest percentage of carbon. Highest calorific value.

2. Bituminous - Middle-rank coal. Often used in electricity generation. On closer look, appear in the layers.

3. Subbituminous - Black and dull in color.

4. Lignite - low-rank coal. The lowest percentage of carbon. Brown in color. Lowest calorific value.

5. Peat - It contains less than 60% carbon.

Some useful products of coal

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A. Coke

• Tough, porous, and black substance.
• Used in manufacturing steel and extraction of various metals.

B. Coal tar

• Black, a thick liquid having an unpleasant smell.
• A mixture of about 200 substances.
• Naphthalene balls are obtained from it.
• These days bitumen is used in place of coal tar in the metalling roads.

C. Coal gas

• It is obtained during the processing of coal to get a coke.
• Used for street lighting for the first time in London. But now used as a source of heat than light

 D. Petroleum (Black Gold)

• Heavy motor vehicles like trucks work on diesel. 
• Limited resource, so in India Petroleum Conservation Research Association(PCRA) gives advice about its judicious use.
• Petroleum is a fossil fuel that was formed from the remains of ancient marine organisms
• The world’s first oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania, USA, in 1859
• In India, It is found in Assam, Gujarat, Mumbai High, and in river basins of Godavari and Krishna.
• In India, It is found in Assam, Gujarat, Mumbai High, and in river basins of Godavari and Krishna.

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Refining of Petroleum

Petroleum is a dark oily liquid and a mixture of various constituents like Petroleum Gas, Petrol, Diesel, Lubricating oil, and paraffin wax.

The process of separation of various constituents is called Refining and the useful substances so obtained are called petrochemicals.

Natural Gas

• Stored under high pressure as CNG (compressed natural gas)
• Easy to transport through pipes.
• Less polluting, cleaner fuel.
• Hydrogen gas obtained from Natural gas is used for making fertilizers like urea.
• In India, natural gas is found in Tripura, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and in the Krishna Godavari delta.
• It acts as a starting material for manufacturing various chemicals.

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